My husband and I started a marriage ministry in our home in 2007 because we understood the need for marriages to be strengthened. We also wanted to share our experience and let couples know that marriages can be blissful (even after infidelity)! Many couples get married only to experience a sense of dissatisfaction later and have no idea how to regain that satisfaction. Most of us expect that our spouses will change and become the person we want them to be; however, as we evolve and our desires change, we expect them to continually change. And when they don't change, we become bitter. Then what usually happens is that we become complacent in the state of dissatisfaction and believe the lie that there is nothing wrong with our marriages. Granted, there may be nothing wrong with your marriage; but why not make a good marriage great! However, if there is something wrong, why not get the tools to make it better?
When we started our ministry, we asked several couples to join us, but only two couples showed up. We don't know why the other couples did not attend; maybe they were busy or couldn't get a babysitter (or God's intervention). So for a couple of months we sat with two other couples once a month and used Gary Chapman's: A Couple's Guide to a Growing Marriage (which is now entitled: The Marriage You've Always Wanted), which would be the first tool in the handy tool kit we were building. The first chapter takes you right to God, Enhancing my conversation with God! This chapter taught us not only how to communicate with God, but also how He communicates with us. It also taught us how to develop a closer relationship with God by reading His Word and then responding to His Word. Just when I thought I knew how to have a relationship with God (because I taught Sunday School), it gets better! Now it's intentional and not just reading the bible to teach a class.
Many of us are using our parents or grandparents as examples of how to have a good marriage. But the truth of the matter is (and if you're honest) many of our parents or grandparents didn't have good marriages. They slept in separate beds (or bedrooms), they were abused or abusive (verbally, mentally or physically), they were controlled or controlling, they didn't respect each other, they didn't talk to each other, there was repeated infidelity, there was no relationship with God, and some of them were miserable but they stayed married because that's what you did back then.
So why attend a marriage conference or class? Because even if there's nothing wrong with your marriage, your marriage can become better! If you're not growing, then you're dying. Nothing stays the same. You're either progressing or regressing. Why not grow? What are you afraid of? But if there is something wrong with your marriage, wouldn't you want to make that discovery and then work to make it better? Eventually, the stuff you keep shoving under the rug is going to trip you. Our marriages won't grow if we don't "water" them.
Join us for a Marriage Enrichment Conference on Saturday, October 25, 2014 at 9:30am. This is a free event! Most conferences and workshops can cost anywhere from $25 - $200 or more (we've gone to a conference that was $179). Take advantage of this free event! Register today at www.godsunionmm.com.
Stay tuned for Myth #2...
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